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BASEBALL: Paloma Valley blanks Carter

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MENIFEE – Parker Fokken is doing a number on Menifee Paloma Valley’s opponents. The number is zero.

The Wildcats advanced to the Division 3 baseball quarterfinals Tuesday with a 4-0 victory over Rialto Carter. It was the third straight shutout for Paloma Valley (22-6), and it extended Fokken’s personal scoreless streak to 23 innings.

Fokken put on a clinic against Carter (21-6), working from ahead in the count all day and then dictating the at-bats. He threw first-pitch strikes in 20 of the 24 at-bats, finishing with a four-hitter, striking out five and walking none.

“He did exactly what he is supposed to do,” Carter coach Samuel Lopez said. “He established that first-pitch fastball and even established the curve on the first pitch. We were supposed to be aggressive from the start because we knew he was a strike-thrower. But we didn’t really do that.”

Paloma Valley coach Chuck Kemp gave Fokken, a junior, a taste of playoff competition with four innings in the first round. Fokken carried that performance through to Tuesday.

“I know things are going well when I make bad pitches and they still go where I want them to go,” Fokken said. “Working ahead in the count really helps. I get to throw what I want to throw.”

Fokken retired the first nine batters before allowing singles to Chris Lujan and Marco Castanon in the fourth. That budding rally was cut short when Paloma Valley catcher Bryce Macy picked Lujan off second. Second baseman Anthony Lee made a brilliant short-hop pickup and tag on the play.

Lee later executed a perfect suicide squeeze for the final run, as the Wildcats matched Fokken’s pitching with solid execution.

“We were described by someone a little while ago as scrappy, and we wear that as a badge of honor,” Kemp said. “When we do the little things well, that’s when we are worthy of winning.”

Carter’s execution was lacking in the first inning, when two errors on the same play helped set up Paloma Valley’s first run. Max Sias delivered the run with a sacrifice fly.

The Wildcats added two runs in the third. Cody McCoy and Macy opened the inning with singles. McCoy came in to score on Ryan Kemp’s single and Macy scored on a walk.

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